It looks and sounds decent thus far, I think--although I do feel that the environments lack a little in variety.

Agreed! Our focus lately has been on trying to polish up what's there and capture some decent shots/video for a (hopefully successful!) Greenlight campaign, at which point we intend to use Early Access to expand both the gameplay and the environments.

Ricardo here with a progress update. As we continue to improve the game in preparation for the eventual Greenlight campaign, many enhancements have been made to both visuals and game design/mechanics. To be specific about a few: Improved textures and models, tweaks to lighting and particles, character movement speed tweaks to improve game feel, improved player stat system as groundwork for future mechanics, improved enemy AI, new pickups and props, like extra gibs, wooden planks and lockers. Map generation has also been improved so level layouts are more varied, including the addition of secret rooms.

Here's a gif showcasing the item pick-up mechanic and also the new particle effects when hitting rock walls with the pick-axe.

And we also want to introduce one of the most exciting additions to the game: The drill! While Undermine is not focused on combat, we believe it's a good idea to give the player options to face enemies, while the drill itself opens up many interesting possibilities for other mechanics.

Here you can see some concept art for the drill (huge drill bit for added epicness!) and the model wip:

That does look improved, I think--in particular in the walls and particles. ^_^

I do have two points of critique regarding the visuals: First, I'm not sure about the floor material: it still looks a little plasticky to my eye. Second, the corners of the walls--where they meet the floor, or form an alcove, for example--look rather sharp and rectilinear to me.

The drill looks neat--but beware that it doesn't (pun intended) undermine the sense of horror: empowering the player to combat the threats can very easily drain the fear in a situation, I believe.

I like the possibilities the drill opens up, but I also agree that it shouldn't be too powerful, or maybe it's unreliable, needs to be charged, etc? And I do agree that there should be some options for combat...but I also agree that it shouldn't undermine the horror vibe, because I think that's one of the strongest aspects of the game right now.

Hey thanks for the feedback guys. Yeah, Adam and I have been talking about the implications of adding more weapons or additional items to the game and we definitely want to keep the player from becoming too powerful or making enemies ineffective. We have a WIP implementation of the drill already in the game and are working on the asset itself and tweaking to ensure balance and keep the game focus.

About the soil texture well, we're experimenting with new texture and tweaks to the materials to ensure they look better all around. We'll keep these observations in mind, so thanks once again for sharing your thoughts with us.

Regarding combat, one thought might be to not only limit the use of weapons (such as by Pixel Noise's suggestion that the drill require charging), but to additionally have enemy death be temporary: the player can get a foe out of the way for a while, but they always return.

With some balance, this might prevent the player from rendering a level safe by seeking out and killing all enemies present. Instead, combat might become a tactical decision: with weapon resources limited, and enemy death impermanent, when is it better to attempt to kill an enemy, and when is it better to slip by unnoticed?

The drill looks neat--but beware that it doesn't (pun intended) undermine the sense of horror: empowering the player to combat the threats can very easily drain the fear in a situation, I believe.

As it is now, it actually gives a somewhat false sense of power. The mutants have a very fast attack pattern, so it's pretty easy to get effed up while trying to take them out with any weapon. The drills can also only be found in secret rooms, spawn with random fuel, and there are currently no fuel pick-ups (if we do add them, they will be rare).

Agreed, we plan to do some blending of textures to smooth out the transitions from open area to tunnel, and add some clutter and extra geometry to smooth out the 90 degree angles.

Sounds good! ^_^

You mention blending textures--do I guess correctly that you intend to use a splatting shader of some sort? If so, do you plan on applying it to the entirety of the walls/floor, or just to specific geometry placed where the two meet?

As it is now, it actually gives a somewhat false sense of power. The mutants have a very fast attack pattern, so it's pretty easy to get effed up while trying to take them out with any weapon. The drills can also only be found in secret rooms, spawn with random fuel, and there are currently no fuel pick-ups (if we do add them, they will be rare).

Hmm... But if the mutants are overpowering, drills are rare and have limited fuel, and the player has the option of slipping past the mutants via stealth, why would the player take the drills at all (presumably after one or more failed attempts)?

We already had an inventory screen of sorts in the game where you could check info about items you found in the mine. It was functional, but also quite basic: You just basically had the model a text description and icons representing the items you had found and how many were there still to find (grayed out). This implementation however had a problem, it was all a hard-coded mess, so adding, removing or changing items was tedious.

So we revamped these screens not only to add the framework necessary to be able to add items dynamically (now items are assets) but also to allow us more flexibility to include more screens for Stats, Upgrades, etc. First we discussed the stat system itself and made some mock-up layouts, and now we have it partially implemented in-game, working with both mouse and gamepad.

Some of the mock-ups

Current screen in-game

The layout we have implemented in-game features a headshot of the protagonist. This is interactive and is a visual representation of current health.

As for the stats & upgrades system we've been evaluating our options and trying to find a balance between giving the player some freedom to pursue a particular play style and enhancing the sense of progression and opening interesting possibilities for design and mechanical improvements to the game while avoiding turning the experience into an overly complex RPG-like powerplay situation. Upgrades can improve stats directly and stack and can also be one off, passive effects. We're still figuring out the best way to give the player upgrade points, but one of this methods will be by collecting a pill bottle. We made a new model for this, we call it NeuroMAX.

As to upgrade points, one way might be to use an RPG mechanic and award upgrade points when the player achieves certain tasks: entering a new level, killing an enemy, completing a significant story/side-quest action (such as activating a generator, or unlocking an important door), etc.

The new statistics screen looks fine, to me--it could perhaps use some aesthetic work, but I imagine that this is something to attend to a little later!

As to upgrade points, one way might be to use an RPG mechanic and award upgrade points when the player achieves certain tasks: entering a new level, killing an enemy, completing a significant story/side-quest action (such as activating a generator, or unlocking an important door), etc.

Hey man thanks for the follow up. Yes we have talked about how to reward the player with upgrade points (ie. The pill bottle!) and basically we have come up with the following ways:

Finishing a level

Defeating enemies (small chance to drop directly or drop a key to open a locker containing a pill bottle)

We're considering adding certain tasks or mini-puzzles to the game but we're still evaluating if it's worth pursuing. We want to add depth to the gameplay and not "different ways of doing the same". Maybe if we end up adding such content, its possible some of those mechanics reward upgrade points. We'll see!

The new statistics screen looks fine, to me--it could perhaps use some aesthetic work, but I imagine that this is something to attend to a little later!

Yeah, for sure. Many aspects of the game can use more visual polish, and we've been working on that front. The menus are certainly ripe for improvement, but for now we wanted to get a working layout implemented in-game.

We're considering adding certain tasks or mini-puzzles to the game but we're still evaluating if it's worth pursuing. We want to add depth to the gameplay and not "different ways of doing the same". Maybe if we end up adding such content, its possible some of those mechanics reward upgrade points. We'll see!

One thought on this: a little variety in the tasks asked of the player can prevent monotony from setting in, I suspect--especially if doing so calls for shifts in the player's strategy for the level.

For example, a given player might prefer to stick to the darkness, edging around the enemies until they can slip out of the level. Having a task that calls for them to move into a well-lit area, or create a lot of noise, may push them a little out of this "comfort zone", potentially both challenging them and allowing a bit of relief if they afterwards return to their favoured methods.

That said, I daresay that there are dangers in adding such elements: They may consume additional development time, and complicate the game's design. They may prove frustrating to deal with in-game. They may not fit with the setting or intended experience, and so feel artificial. And perhaps other pitfalls that aren't occurring to me offhand, besides.

Yeah, for sure. Many aspects of the game can use more visual polish, and we've been working on that front. The menus are certainly ripe for improvement, but for now we wanted to get a working layout implemented in-game.

Here's a freshly captured gif of the current implementation of the stats/inventory screens. There's still stuff to do, but its good progress, already in-game and working (ignore the minor bug heh, but hey, its WIP! )

Once again, thanks a lot for taking the time to write down your thoughs, Thaumaturge. A lot of what you've suggested is already in some shape or form in the game or has been at the very least discussed. Once we reach EA phase and we get more testing done we can fine-tune all these aspects, but keep it coming, your feedback is VERY appreciated.

Looks good, thus far, to my eye! (And I think that the level itself is shaping up well, too!)

I take it that the mentioned bug is that the mushroom gives an interaction prompt to eat it, and the resulting damage (or damage indicator, at least), despite the mushroom then ending up in the inventory?

As to the feedback, fair enough, and I'm glad that it has been considered! ^_^

And don't worry, I have no intention of withholding feedback! I'd rather risk giving superfluous feedback than withholding something that hasn't been considered, I think.

You mention blending textures--do I guess correctly that you intend to use a splatting shader of some sort? If so, do you plan on applying it to the entirety of the walls/floor, or just to specific geometry placed where the two meet?

After playing around with some splat shaders, I ended up going with ProCore's PolyBrush tool, as it provides the ability to "paint" textures (by vertex) directly within Unity. It's still in beta, but so far it's fit the bill perfectly.

We've lost a bit of "definition" in that the shaders it ships with support fewer maps than Unity's standard shader, but I think it's a good trade-off as we gain the ability to create much more natural/organic looking environments. (we also have the option of looking at a more robust shader down the road)